Marathi literature loses its maverick genius

Denaryaane det jaave 
Ghenaaryane ghet jaave
Ghenaryane ek divas 
Denaaryache haat ghyaave
(The one who gives should give 
The one who takes should take
One day, the taker 
Should take the very quality of
giving from the giver)

Govind Vinayak Karandikar, fondly called Vinda, showed the way even in his death. At 92, Vinda breathed his last on Sunday at Bandra’s Bhabha Hospital, after a prolonged illness. Vinda has bequeathed his body for medical research and organs to the poor in need.

His friends of Sahitya Sahwas, where he resided for most part of his life, vouch that even in life Karandikar, a Jnanpith awardee, was a very giving person — he donated all the cash prizes he received over the years for his works.

Writer Subhash Bhende recalled: “Although his close friends would tease him saying he is a kanjoos (miserly) Konkani, we all know that there was no one more giving than Vinda. He donated every cash award he got to various non-government organisations.”

Whether it was Samyukta Maharashtra Movement or price rise, Vinda’s concern was always for the man on the street. 

“He cared immensely for people living below the poverty line. He would always say that development and research is truly valuable only when it benefits the poor. In fact, he was such a person.

Once when a poor singer came below his house singing on his harmonium, Vinda called him to his house and gave his newly-bought harmonium,” reminisced Bhende.

Renowned poet Mangesh Padga-onkar was shattered hearing of Vinda’s death. Padgaonkar, Vinda and Vasant Bapat were the triumvirate of Marathi poetry. Bapat died in September 17, 2002, and now Vinda.

Padgaonkar told DNA that he is counting his own last days. “What can I say? I am absolutely shattered,” said Padgaonkar. “Vinda loved fruits and every birthday I would take his favourite fruits. Now I can’t do it. I will miss the moments we shared,” said Padgaonkar. 

Fellow writer Vijaya Rajadhyaksha said, “The death of Karandikar marks the end of a chapter in Marathi and Indian poetry. He was one poet who shone from the 1950s till date. He wrote on varied subjects, but always held women high through his writings and that was his ideology.” She added, “He was jailed for the freedom of Hyderabad. He was a true giver. True to his style, he has willed that his body be donated for medical research and organs be donated to the poor.”

Few would know that one of Shiv Sena’s spokespersons, Neelam Gorhe, was Karandikar’s daughter-in-law. “He was a great conversationalist. He could talk on various subjects at length. Although he was a poet and litterateur, Vinda enjoyed art and music. He had learned and mastered tabla really well,” said Gorhe. “He was good at carpentry.”

Govind Vinayak Karandikar famously known as Vinda Karandikar was born on August 23, 1918 in Khandval village of Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra.

Besides his Marathi poems, Karandikar penned a collection of English poems, titled Vinda Poems in 1975. Some of Karandikar’s famous writings are Shwetganga, Mrudgandha, Ranicha Baug, Sashyache Kan and Pari Ga Pari.

Karandikar has been conferred with several literary awards, including the Keshvasut Prize, the Soviet Land Nehru Literary Award, Kabir Samman and the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 1996.

Karandikar’s career was crowned with the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in India, in 2003. After Vishnu S Khandekar (1974) and Vishnu V Shirwadkar (1987), Karandikar was the third Marathi writer to bag the prestigious award for his work of poems — Ashtadarshan.